I built this PC in 2021 and it was stable until recently. Now Valheim and Baldur's Gate 3 will run for a while before the display suddenly goes black. The PC itself keeps running—fans and lights remain on—but I have to hold the power button to restart it.nnI'm unsure whether any components are now too old or failing. I've added extra case fans, and the system sits on top of my desk with plenty of airflow. The current hardware is an Intel Core i7-11700KF with an Asetek 650LX 120mm liquid cooler, 16GB of DDR4-3200 memory, an RTX 3070 8GB graphics card, an MSI Z590 Pro WiFi motherboard, a 1TB Kingston NV1 M.2 SSD, and a 700W 80 Plus Gold power supply. The reported average temperatures are around 40°C for the CPU and 46°C for the GPU. What should I test first, and is anything here old enough to replace?
4 Answers
The exact crash behavior is important. An application crash that returns you to the desktop points toward software, while a black screen with the computer still powered suggests a graphics driver crash, GPU fault, power issue, or unstable cable connection. Try a stress test for the GPU and memory separately, and if possible test with another known-good power supply.
Try the basic isolation steps first: update the motherboard BIOS and graphics drivers, check Windows Event Viewer for display or hardware errors, disable any CPU/GPU overclocks, and test with another display cable or monitor. A clean operating-system installation is also reasonable if the system has used the same installation since 2021, but I’d test the power and graphics hardware before assuming the OS is the cause.
Nothing in this build is automatically too outdated for those games. Since the system completely loses video while the fans and lighting stay on, I’d investigate the power supply, graphics card, cables, and drivers before replacing the whole platform. A 700W Gold unit should be sufficient if it’s a decent model, but the exact make and model matter.
The temperatures you listed look normal, but averages don’t rule out brief spikes or a graphics-card hotspot problem. Clean the system and consider replacing the thermal paste on the CPU and GPU if it has never been serviced. If you open the GPU, be careful with the thermal pads and have replacements available in the correct thicknesses.
I had a similar black-screen issue and repasting my graphics card made a noticeable difference, so checking the GPU temperatures under load is worthwhile.
The power supply is rated at 700W and 80 Plus Gold. I’ll check the exact model and its connections.